Tigers First, Bearcats Second at Regionals

TUMWATER — Two Tigers and two Bearcats each won championships, and Centralia finished first as a team here Saturday at the 2A Region 1 wrestling tournament.

Centralia finished with 126.5 team points, just edging out rival W.F. West (124.5) for first in the team standings. The top four wrestlers in each weight class advance to Mat Classic XXX starting Friday in the Tacoma Dome.

Mykka McAllister and Tristan Dickey both won for Centralia, while Roehre Cunningham and Levi Walters won for W.F. West.

McAllister beat W.F. West’s Mason Marones, 7-4, in the 132-pound finals, a week after Marones had beaten McAllister in the sub-regional finals.

“Mason had a good match with Mykka again,” W.F. West coach Jamie Rakevich said. “They’re both looking good right now.”

Dickey, at 170, beat Colton Wheeler from Hockinson in an 11-1 major decision for the championship.

“We are very proud of our wrestlers’ performances,” Tiger coach Scott Phillips said. “We seem to be peaking at the right time.”

Cunningham won at 106, beating Woodland’s Judeah Sanders 6-1 in the finals, and Walters topped Aberdeen’s Edgar Salazar, 8-5, in the 120 finals.

“I thought both of them wrestled really tough,” Rakevich said of Cunningham and Walters. “I thought they looked good, and hopefully we can make a good run at state with those two guys for their senior year.”

Caleb Walters (113) was second for WF. West, losing via pin to Woodland’s Josiah Sanders in the finals.

Carver Brennan (152) and Darren Gray (106) both finished fourth for the Bearcats to qualify, while Chase Conway took fifth at 285 to move on as an alternate.

“We’re happy with that. We’d like to have a couple more, but the kids wrestled well,” Rakevich said. “We’ll see how it goes next week.”

Tenino’s Weyrauch Wins Regional Title

KLAHOWYA — Tenino had five wrestlers finish in the top five here Saturday at the 1A Region 1 tournament to earn spots at Mat Classic XXX.

Weyrauch won the 195-pound bracket, beating Forks’ Eden Cisneros 3-1 in the finals.

Robby Marti finished second for the Beavers at 285, falling to Forks’ Nathan Flores in the finals.

Dakota Whitaker (145) finished fourth, while Zac Robson (170) and Brian Christmas (182) each took fifth to qualify as alternates.

Five Pirates Win Regional Championships

KALAMA — Five Adna wrestlers came out on top of their bracket here Saturday at the 1B/2B Region 1 wrestling tournament.

Ashton Dowell, Kameron Perry, Matthew Slape, Aaron Slape and Lucas Ashley all finished first for the Pirates, who finished first as a team with 169 points.

The Pirates had eight wrestlers in regionals, with six finalists and a pair of third-place finishers.

The top four grapplers in each weight class advance to Mat Classic XXX, which starts Friday morning in the Tacoma Dome.

Those wins helped the Pirates to their first-ever regional title, as well, with 169 points to runner-up Ilwaco’s 159.

Aaron Slape won the 138-pound title with a 13-5 major decision of Ilwaco’s Allen Chetwood in the finals. Ashley won at 145, beating Rainier’s Brody Klein 10-9 in the finals, and Matthew Slape won at 160, pinning Kalama’s Colby Hutchinson in 1 minute, 39 seconds.

Dowell took the 170 gold, topping Darrington’s Gage Burtenshaw — a defending state champion — 7-3 in the finals.

“Ashton worked really hard in practice to prepare for this match, and he dominated the entire six minutes,” Adna coach Craig Ferrier said.

Perry, meanwhile, pinned Rainier’s David Hoover in 3:46 for the 182 title.

Adna’s Meyer Wins Regional Title

ABERDEEN — Adna’s Cheyeann Meyer headlined three local wrestlers qualifying for state at the Girls Region 3 tournament here Saturday.

Meyer, a junior, went 3-0 on the day to win the 125-pound bracket, beating Washougal’s Aleksi Donahue with a pin 40 seconds into the championship match. That turned out to be her longest match of the day; Meyer won via pin in 34 seconds in the first round and took only three seconds longer to get a pin in the semifinals.

She’ll wrestle against Grandview’s Moliee Weddle on Friday in the first round of Mat Classic XXX, the state wrestling championships at the Tacoma Dome.

W.F. West’s Xylia Warner finished second at 135 and opens state action against Wenatchee’s Emily Carroll on Friday.

Centralia’s Faith Halseth finished third at 125 and faces Ephrata’s Mya Spencer on Friday in Tacoma.